A front part of a vehicle body is covered with a hood that is swingably mounted on the vehicle body. A cowl top garnish is disposed behind the hood such that the cowl top garnish extends in a width direction of a vehicle across an entire width of the vehicle. The cowl top garnish is a member to support a front lower end of a windshield panel. A prior art that is relevant to the cowl top garnish is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2014-43194.
FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B are referred to. FIG. 9A and FIG. 9B are reproductions of FIG. 9(B) and FIG. 9(C) of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2014-43194. Reference numerals have been renumbered for convenience of description.
The cowl top garnish 100 has a protruding portion 110, which has a generally inverted “V” shape, with its top 111 being at an upper location, when viewed in a cross-sectional view from a lateral direction of the vehicle body. The protruding portion 110 includes a front segment 112, which extends forward and downward from the top 111, and a rear segment 113, which extends rearward and downward from the top 111. The protruding portion 110 is a flexible portion that allows the front segment 112 and the rear segment 113 to expand or spread when a load acts on the protruding portion 110 from above the top 111.
A bridging member 120 extends from a lower end of the front segment 112 toward a lower end of the rear segment 113. A front end of the bridging member 120 is secured to the lower end of the front segment 112. A rear end of the bridging member 120 has a claw 120a, which is put into a hole 113a formed at the lower end of the rear segment 113. An upwardly standing wall 121 is formed in the vicinity of the rear end of the bridging member 120.
A load may act on the cowl top garnish 100 in a front-rear direction. If the load acts in the front-rear direction, the distance between the front segment 112 and the rear segment 113 decreases. In this situation, the standing wall 121 of the bridging member 120 contacts the lower end of the rear segment 113. This restricts the decreasing of the distance between the front segment 112 and the rear segment 113.
Also, an object may fall onto the protruding portion 110 from above the top 111. If the object falls over the protruding portion 111, the front segment 112 and the rear segment 113 spread, as specifically shown in FIG. 9B. As the front segment 112 and the rear segment 113 spread, the rear end of the bridging member 120 moves through the hole 113a, and the bridging member 120 disengages from the hole 113a. Upon the disengagement of the bridging member 120, the front segment 112 and the rear segment 113 further spread. This absorbs the shock exerted by the object.
When the bridging member 120 disengages from the rear segment 113 of the protruding portion 111, the claw 120a may contact the hole 113a formed at the lower end of the rear segment 113. If the claw 120a contacts the hole 113a, the disengagement is hindered to a certain extent, and therefore an impact is applied to the object. In other words, a load is applied to the object. Thus, there is room for improvement with regard to the shock absorbing capability.